


Artifacts

by Archet



Category: Without a Trace
Genre: Established Relationship, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archet/pseuds/Archet
Summary: When Danny says New York is his city, Martin believes him.  But when Martin looks closely he finds little reminders of another life scattered all about Danny’s apartment.
Relationships: Martin Fitzgerald/Danny Taylor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Artifacts

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I did not create these characters, only this fic(let). No infringement intended.  
> Feedback: welcomed an appreciated

When Danny says New York is his city, Martin believes him. But when Martin looks closely he finds little reminders of another life scattered all about Danny’s apartment. There are the colorful flamingo print postcards he happens across, tucked into the books on the shelf in the living room, neon-hued bookmarks with disclaimers like ‘wish you were here’ and ‘a Christmas hello from Florida’. There is the small, bell-shaped bottle of sugar-white sand, stoppered with a cork and pushed to the back of the kitchen catch-all drawer. There’s the pristine Panama hat, the lone occupant on the top shelf of the hall closet, stored in a clear plastic bin and swathed in tissue paper like some sort of museum piece. Unusual things to Martin’s eyes, touristy, nothing at all like Danny as Martin knows him, but Martin enjoys discovering each artifact, one by one. He doesn’t ask Danny about them though, doesn’t comment on these bright little curiosities. 

Danny shares personal fragments of his life with Martin at the oddest of times . . . in an elevator, while traversing a parking garage, on the noon ferry chugging across the East River and it’s almost if Danny has to be in motion in the telling or the memories will cling to him too tightly. Sometimes the things he offers Martin are unhappy, spoken with that matter of fact, Taylor-made steadiness, yet the darkness in already dark eyes bleeds through plainly enough. But there are happy things too, infrequent, but they’re there, doled out with the same evenness, sometimes accompanied with a crooked smile and narrowed eyes, as if Danny’s looking back through the lens of long years and struggling to keep the memory in focus. Martin finds it in himself to be glad Danny has something bright to recall about his past, even if it is sometimes framed in a hesitant tone, as if Danny isn’t sure ‘that day at the beach’ story he’s describing is happy, or simply bittersweet. 

There are things in Danny’s apartment Martin knows nothing about, but he makes a vow with himself to be ready and willing to listen to whatever Danny wants him to know. Martin waits for the next discovery, hopes to gather close one more piece of the man he loves. Danny already holds all of Martin, the least Martin can do is return the favor.


End file.
